Life in the Flodded Forest
by Icetooth
Summary: 16 year old Flak just earned his hunters licens. But early in his career he has to deal with a mouthful of problems.
1. Chapter 1: Threat discovered

Flak pushed the ferns aside as he waded into ankle deep water. He tried to make as few ripples as possible because it might alert predators. Some small fish scattered as his leather boot hit the water but he didn't let that distract him from the quest at hand. _Hunting in the Flooded Forest is difficult._ He thought as he walked through the swamp, even though he hadn't even hunted in any other part of the world. He wasn't on a guild quest but hunting for Aptonoth instead. His village was running low on fresh meat so he had to go get some.

Flak had just jumped over a fallen tree when he heard a buzzing sound in the air. He listened closely. "Banabrahara." he whispered. Flak ducked behind a moss covered tree as he heard the buzzing get closer. Flak slowly pulled out his Ludroth Nail. He heard the buzzing get closer he knew the giant bug was near. Then the Banabrahara came visible as it flew from the other side of the tree. Flak jumped out of his hiding spot, raising the sword high above his head and brought the weapon down on the red pest. The Banabrahara fell to the ground in two pieces.

"Whoa." Usually it would have taken two or three blows to a Banabrahara to kill it.

The Ludroth Nail was a gift from a senior hunter in the village. He said he had better weapons and he had never gotten around to upgrade it.

Flak carved the shell off of the insect and put it in his pouch so that the monster wouldn't go to waste.

Flak put his sword away and stood up trying to decide what to do next. "Where would Aptonoth be?" He rambled places to hunt around in his head. "The pond, that's where I'll hunt."

Flak turned south and started toward the pond. He kept to the well worn paths that lead toward the lake.

By the time Flak got to the lake witch was about ten minutes; he hadn't run into anymore monsters. But the bad news, there were no Aptonoth. Flak groaned in annoyance. They had to be there somewhere. He looked up at the large pond. _Maybe there are Epioth in the pond._ Flak knew it was a bad idea to go in the water at this time of day.

But it was about supper time back at the village and people had to eat. So he had no choice.

Flak looked at the algae covered and murky water then waded in. The warm water filled his leather armor. Once he reached a deep point he dove in. Flak could hardly see ten feet in front of him but kept looking for Epioth. He slid his Ludroth Nail out just incase.

Flak went to the surface for air and went back down.

_This is stupid why would there be Epioth in a small pond like this?_ He kept looking for the aquatic herbivores when he came to a water plant on the bottom.

**I think you know what's going to happen. **

Flak swam over to it. _I need some more herbs. _He put his sword away and started tugging on the stalks but they wouldn't budge. He thought for a moment. While he was thinking he thought about how they didn't feel right either. _They feel_ _like-. Oh I am so stupid._ Flak swam for the shore as fast as he could.

Then suddenly he started to be pulled backwards by a strong water current. He swore to himself. Flak looked back to see the gaping chasm of a mouth that belonged to a Gobul.

**How did you like it? Please review. I need the feedback. I will try to get the next chapter in soon. **


	2. Chapter 2: Injuries tell the tale

Flak opened his drowsy eyes to see sunlight hit his pupils and closed them quickly. He felt weak and numb. Suddenly a horrible stench rose to his nose and he gagged. Flak lifted his head up to see that he was covered in what looked like vomit.

Suddenly the events of the night before flashed in his mind, him looking for Epioth, tugging on the stalks, getting swallowed by the Gobul. But why was he on the ground covered in vomit, he didn't know.

Flak tried to sit up but pain seared up his back and he fell back down. Then the world came back to him. He had a giant gash on his right leg, what felt like a broken rib, teeth marks in a half circle along his chest and a missing finger on his left hand.

How had he survived this long without dying, he thought. He puked at the sight of his crippled body, just adding to the other random vomit.

He laid there for hours and hours not able to move because of the pain and the village was just under fifteen minutes away.

Flak tried to yell but just added to his writhing pain. After a while he just gave up and slid into unconsciousness.

**Later**

Flak woke up to a surprise. He was sitting in a bed in the village hospital. Flak looked out a window and it was night time. _I have been unconscious the whole day. _He looked around him to see only a few nurses working at a counter on the other side of the room. Pain enveloped him but he swallowed it.

Flak groaned to let the nurses know he was awake. They turned around to see him wake up. "Oh, thank goodness!" one of them exclaimed. All three of them rushed over to him. "How are you feeling?" one with brown hair asked. Flak opened his mouth to respond but only a spit bubble came out. "I take that as not good, huh?" she paused. "You have been unconscious for a whole week." _A whole week!_ "The only way we kept you alive is by mashing up food and put it down your throat for you." "We'll let you rest now another said as she looked sadly at Flak's broken body.

All three of them stood up and walked away to spread the news that he was awake. One nurse stayed. "Oh yah I almost forgot to tell you that the other hunters took out the Royal Ludroth. They knew it was a Royal because of your wounds.

Flak's mind flew into confusion. _It wasn't a Royal Ludroth it was a-._ "It was a Gobul." He choked out. The nurse stared at him blankly. "What? B-but that's a Royal Ludroth bite on your chest and back. Flak looked down to see the partially healed teeth mark wounds that lied in the half circle along his chest. This didn't add up.

Then someone knocked on the door of the room. The nurse went over to the door and opened it a crack to see who it was. "Come on in." she replied. She stepped back to open the door. On the other side was Trojin, the senior hunter that gave Flak the Ludroth Nail. He walked through the door carrying a giant skull under his arm. Behind him was another hunter about the same age as him, Ali. Flak had been friend with Ali since they started hunting training. She walked into the room behind Trojin and closed the door.

"How you doing?" he asked with a chuckle. "You have been sleeping for a long time." He commented lightly. Flak's eyes drifted over to Ali. "Hi. Um we killed the Royal Ludroth that hurt you." She smiled. _Cough_. "It was- _Cough_- a Gobul. Flak finished lightly. Trojin's smile faded. "No, it was a Royal Ludroth." He stated as he held up the giant skull. "This is the scull of the Royal Ludroth that attacked you." Flak stared at it. "Lets see if it is." Trojin said. He opened the jaw of the scull as far as it would go, and then lowered the teeth onto his teeth mark wounds. The teeth felt cold on his bare chest. It was a perfect match. "This is the second time these teeth have touched your flesh." _It didn't add up. I knew I saw the Gobul and its gaping mouth._

"I think we should leave him to rest." Ali suggested. Trojin stood up and put the scull on the night stand next to his bed. "I already have four of these." Then he left.

Ali look at where Flak's thumb should have been then leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. "I hope you get better." And with that she turned and left the room. Flak could tell that she was trying to hold back tears.

**Please review. Thank you Fenix77 from Australia for doing so.**


	3. Chapter 3: Coincidence

Flak woke up the next morning to see a giant skull staring at him. He jumped at the sight of it but pain rippled through his body. His reflexes made his eyes close. He calmed his body down and after a minute opened his eyes again to see the Royal Ludroth skull that had been placed there the night before by Trojin.

"Oh goodie your awake." A nurse commented as she brought a plate of hot food over and set it on the night stand opposite of the Royal Ludroth skull. Flak uttered a weak thanks and looked at his meal of berries, steaming Aptonoth sausage and juice. "Do you need anything else?" the nurse asked kindly. Flak shook his head as he ate a Red berry. The nurse nodded and walked away.

Flak looked at the walking away nurse. "Wait." The nurse turned around. "Yes?" He coughed "Where is my equipment?" The nurse looked at him. "Well, um your sword was found next to you but your chest armor was destroyed. The other armor just needed to be cleaned and repaired. "Who repaired them?" The brown haired nurse thought for a second. "I believe it was that Feline of yours, um who was that?" "Giranamo" He replied weakly. "Oh yes it was him. I think he has all of the equipment in your room."

Flak nodded a thanks and let the nurse get on with her duties.

He was already edger to go out hunting again. Plus he wanted to get payback on that Gobul for what it had done and maybe get some nice Gobul armor. Then Flak thought that plan over. He couldn't take on a Gobul yet or alone at least. The most dangerous monster that he could stand a chance against is a Ludroth.

Flak sighed as he turned his head toward the scull. He noticed something strange. He picked up the scull and put it on his chest. Flak examined it for a minute then opened its jaw. He angled his head so he could see the roof of the mouth of the scull. There was something brown stuck to one of the teeth in the back. Flak warily reached his hand into the Royal Ludroth bone making sure his skin does not make contact with the razor sharp teeth.

Flak gripped onto what he thought was fabric, loosened it from the tooth and pulled it out. He held the item to his face and was surprised to see that it was leather, but not just any leather. It was leather from his armor.

Flak got goose bumps and set the scull back on the table. "So this Royal did bite me." Flak stared at the leather and thought about the scenario of what happened at the pond. _I was swallowed by the Gobul then… _No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't figure out what had happened.

Flak let the thought go and set the piece of leather on the table next to him. He then picked up his food tray and devoured the sausages. He took a drink of his juice then ate the rest of the berries. When he finished the rest of his juice he set all of the dirty dishes down then went to sleep…

**Some time later…**

"Hurry get him in the bed next to Flak!" Flak woke up to hear yelling coming from the hallway. Then two seconds later two nurses and a male doctor rushed into the room. The doctor had a limp body in his arms. He set it on a bed and started to do chest compressions.

A blond haired nurse turned around to Flak "Raven was just brought in by a hunter who found him unconscious in the swamp. Flak had known Raven since they were little kids, but they weren't what you would call 'Friends'.

He looked over to the unconscious body of black haired Raven. Despite the doctors effort Raven was not waking up. "Get me the Gobul shockers!" the doctor yelled to one of the nurses. She ran across the room, put some plastic gloves on and opened a wooden box that was on the counter. Flak watched as she reached into the box and pulled out two slimy Gobul hide colored spheres attached to each other by a thin cord.

The doctor slipped on a pair of gloves and grabbed the 'Gobul shockers'. The doctor spit on the two spheres and pushed them onto Ravens body. As soon as he had done so, Raven's body jumped and he spit up water witch sprayed in the doctor's face. But he didn't care.

Raven looked dazed as he spit up more water. The doctor gave the shockers back to the nurse and looked at Raven. "It's ok; you're at the hospital just rest while I inspect your injuries." The doctor soothed.

The doctor looked at his torn up and bloody shirt and rolled it up so he could see the injuries better. The doctor paused then looked up at Flak. "Flak can you roll up your shirt so we can see your injuries please?" Flak nodded and did as he was told. One nurse gasped. Ravel looked at his wound and then at Flak's partially healed one. The doctor looked back at Raven.

"What?" Flak asked. A nurse helped him up and brought him over to Raven. Flak's eyes widened as his eyes fell upon a large bite mark in a half circle on his chest.

**Thanks for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed the minor cliff hanger. I hope to come out with the next chapter soon. _!PLEASE REVIEW!_**


	4. Chapter 4: Back to the cot

This sure is an unexpected twist, Flak thought intrigued. "How odd." The Doctor commented. One nurse slowly felt around Ravens bite wounds "So the Royal Ludroth that was killed must not be the perpetrator." One nurse said. "But they both survived. And that's uncommon for Royal Ludroth attacks." The doctor stated as he rubbed his brown haired head.

"G-g-g." Everybody looked at Raven as he stuttered. "Get bandages." The doctor ordered. "What is it Raven?" Raven looked into the doctors eyes. "G- Gobul." He said as he spit up red tinted water.

The nurse handed bandages to the doctor and he took them and wrapped them around Raven's injuries. Raven tensed as the bandages touched his exposed flesh. "It's going to be alright."

Flak lied back down on his bed. He heard the doctors fuss over Raven as he thought about the situation at hand. First a Gobul had attacked him, leaving him unconscious but alive. Then the Royal Ludroth bit him or whatever and he still lived. Then Raven just came in with an almost identical story. I was like the Gobul and Royal Ludroth were working together...

But that was ridiculous. It was almost impossible for two Royal Ludroth to work together. Let alone two different species of monsters. The thought perplexed him. Flak sighed and closed his eyes. He was going to be released from the hospital tomorrow. He'll have to use crutches for his leg but that is worth getting out of the hospital that he spent the last month in. He looked forward to being able to sleep in his own bed and to stay in his own room.

Flak yawned and closed his eyes. In a few seconds he fell asleep.

**Later**

"Flak-Flak-Flak!" Flak heard his name being called and woke up to see a nurse looking down at him. "Come on. Get up. It's time to get you back to your cot. You'll eat breakfast later. Flak rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes and threw his legs over the side of his bead. He yawned and stood up gingerly.

The nurse brought over two wooden stick-like things that came to about Flak's lower shoulder. "These are your crutches, Flak." She handed one of them to Flak and demonstrated how to use them with the other. "First you put the end of the stick with the soft rubber part under your armpit." She said while doing it herself. "Then grab hold to the wooden beam producing from the middle of the crutch. Flak did as he was told. The nurse handed him the other crutch to him.

Flak went in a circle around the room using his crutches to test them out.

The nurse said "How does it feel?" "Good." The nurse nodded back.

"You are free to go now." The nurse said as she pointed to the door. "All of your belongings are in your room. Come by if you don't feel good." Flak nodded. His left hand was already getting tired from holding the crutch without a thumb.

Flak turned around and started out the door but stopped. "Thanks." He said back. The nurse turned around and smiled. "Your welcome."

**Later**

Flak opened the door to his cot and stepped inside. It was spotless. Flak looked around the room. On the wall to the right of him he saw that his bookshelf of four books were neatly stacked together, to his left his desk had a few pieces of paper on it with a pen in the pen holder and a candle on it and his bed was tidy with his pillow propped up.

But the thing that caught his eye the most was the armor hanging from the back wall. It looked spotless. As Flak walked over to it he noticed his chest armor looked different. Flak came up to the armor and noticed the chest armor wasn't his old armor at all. It was made of- Royal Ludroth!

"Welcome home!" a squeaky voice sounded behind him. Flak turned around to see a Feline standing there. "Giranamo!" Flak exclaimed. "I missed you, nya." Giranamo said. Flak looked all around. "Did you do all this?" "Yyyyep." "Thanks a lot." "Well it's my job and I like doing it." Flak smiled and looked at his armor. "Is this from the Royal Ludroth that was killed?" "No, it was from a Lageeacis, yes it was from the Royal ladrith. Nya." He finished with laughter. Flak laughed. "You can never get those names right, can you?" "Nope."

After a short laughing spell Flak lied down on his bed. Giranamo walked up to him. "A feline without his hunter is like a fly without hot sauce." _Felines eat weird things_. Flak set his crutches down as he heard a knock on the door. "Come in." The door swung open and Ali stepped inside.

Giranamo whistled and lifted his eyebrows and ran out of the room. "Felines." Ali said. "Yah." Flak replied. "How are you feeling?" "Good. I have to use crutches though." Ali nodded.

They talked for about an hour until Ali left him to rest.

**That's the end of CH 4. Please review. Sorry it was so late.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Lagiacrus story

Flak woke up the next morning and groaned. His leg was bothering him. He was under of his covers. Flak threw the sheet off and looked at his bandaged leg. With some pain he slowly unwrapped the bandage that was on his leg. He looked down to see that the foot long gash was slightly healed but something was wrong about it. There was a small bit of purple goo that seemed to be, over time, emerging from the injury. Flak looked away to cough then went back to investigating it. Flak touched the purple substance and it was warm but slightly transparent. _I've got to go the doctor about this._ Flak thought. He was supposed to go there everyday for a check up anyway.

He wrapped his leg back up and got out of bed. Flak reached for his crutches and pulled them into position. He stretched, and then walked with his crutches over to his fruit bowl. Every hunter apprentice knows that it is important for a hunter to eat lots of fruit. Flak's mentor was the clan leader, Kkalas. She actually adopted him into the clan from an enemy clan. The Shadowfall clan. Flak never new the whole story but he was glad it happened. He never would be as good as friends with Ali if he didn't get into this clan. The Thundersky clan.

Flak took a banana, unwrapped it and took a minute to eat it. When he finished he walked outside of his cot and across the clearing of the camp to go to the doctor's.

As he was half way across the clearing two people came toward him. Flak looked up to see Sand and Dust. Twins. They are about his age. Dust is a guy and has dry blonde hair. Sand is slightly shorter and has a hint of ginger in hers. Flak looked ahead and kept on moving on his crutches. Dust spoke first. "So we've got four-legs over here, don't we? Ha, ha!" Flak looked up at him. "You two just stay out of this. I got attacked by a Gobul and very likely a Royal Ludrith too." Dust looked into Flaks eyes. "Well guess what? I now have a Royal Ludrith lance. I got it from the Royal that was just killed." "Well I've got new Royal armor, a soon to be Royal L' sword and a giant bite mark from one." With that he kept on walking. Sand replied. "What? You don't want to stick around?" she asked sarcastically. Dust smiled. "Say 'hi' to the nurses for me while you are in there." The twins laughed at him. Flak turned around once more. The twins came up to him. "Back off." "Oh that's all you have to sa-?" she got interrupted as a hunter pushed the group apart. It was one of Trojin's friends, Reilliek. (Ri-lie-ek) "That's enough." He said in a commanding but smooth voice. "You." He said looking at Flak "Go to the doctors and you two go do some chores." The kids did as they were told. "I hear the elders need their weekly bed sheet washing." He yelled after the twins.

Flak came to the entrance of the medicine room and stepped inside. He went down the small hallway and into the medical room. One of the nurses saw him. "Oh, hello Flak. Sit down the doctor will be right in." He did as he was told. He got onto one of the medical beds and waited for the doctor.

The whole camp is surrounded by the camp wall, which is made by natural barriers such as piles of boulders or rocks or dirt, then covered by vegetation. There is a camp entrance which is a tunnel leading from the outside to the inside of camp. All of the rooms and dens that the clan lives and operates in are built into the wall. The medicine den is too and has windows looking out into the swamp. There is a glass pane then three steel bars to protect against monsters.

Flak looked out that window and heard a noise. He squinted his eyes to see out better. All he could see was a tan colored shape. Then it hit him. It's a Ludroth. Flak wasn't scared but he didn't like the idea of having a Ludroth so close to camp.

He turned his head as he heard the doctor come in the door. "Hello Flak." Flak nodded. "How's the leg doing?" "Well this morning I took the bandages off and this purple- umm… goo came leaking out of it." The doctor stared to unwrap his bandages. "Hmmm. Well that's strange. I've never heard that befo-." Then he paused. "I think I know the whole story now." Flak looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?" The doctor finished unwrapping the bandages. Flak looked down to see more of the thick purple liquid emerging from the wound. The doctor that Flak has learned to know as doctor Griffin sat up and said...

"I used to be a hunter. And back in my day there was this plant that was abundant at the time. It's called the Krakus plant and on this plant there were these little black berries." Where could he be going with this? Flak thought. "If a monster eats these berries they obey every command of the first human the meet. It is very hard to make a monster eat the berries but it can be done." He took a pause looked down and took a breath. "Anyway one day my friends and I were checking the Shadowfall border for trespassers when we heard a loud trampling sound of a large animal coming through the forest towards us. I drew my club and my other two friends drew their bowgun and greatsword." He took a deep breath. "Then the tree in front of us fell down and standing right there was a Lagiacrus." He started to sweat. "It was the first of two I have ever seen. The giant head that is as big as a man was five feet away from us. I could smell the berries on his breath. It takes A LOT to intoxicate a Lagiacrus. Anyway my friend Yhrgio (ee-ur-gi-o) shot his bowgun at the beast. It was just a normal shot so it hit its chest and didn't do much. I heard the beast roar. I ran to the side and so did my other friend Hem. The Lagiacrus swiped at Yhrgio put he jumped back. I jumped in and hit it on the side. I threw a combo at it. Some blood gushed but not much happened. Then the giant took a giant slide to the right and knocked me off my feet. I landed twenty feet away and had the wind knocked out of me. I looked up just in time to see Hem slice a huge gash in the monsters neck as Yhrgio shot it in the face with a slicing bullet. Its face exploded in a flurry of scales and flesh." The doctor chuckled. "Then I got back up and gave it a giant uppercut with my club because its head was down. Its head want flying backwards and the exposed flesh on its head hit the crystals on its back. Its head was stuck on them!" The doctor smiled.

Flak was intrigued and wanted to know more. How many people have fought a Lagiacrus?! "What happened next?" His smile faded. "You know why Yhrgio is still in the clan but Hem isn't?" Flak shook his head "He died." said in a grim voice. "Well I'm sorry." "We drove it away but Yhrgio was scraped up. After a couple of days his scrapes started to ooze…this." He said as he pointed to Flak's purple goop. "I believe you and Raven were attacked by a possessed Gobul and or Royal Ludroth.

Flak nodded as he absorbed all the information that was jus given to him. The doctor nodded. "I'll keep an eye on Raven too." Flak was still puzzled by something. "But why? Why were you attacked all those years ago and then all of a sudden me and Raven got attacked?" shrugged. "The Lagiacrus was sent out by the Shadowfall clan. But I don't know about your condition. You see, after the incident all four clans agreed to get rid of these bushes that control monsters. And we did. All of the hunters of all of the clans destroyed and burned them all." Flak nodded but still had a question on his mind. "Why did you become a doctor?" paused for a second then said "Lets get this cleaned out

Griffin started to clean the goo out. "Don't worry about this too much. It's only a condition. Just come back every day. It should last up to two weeks."

As Flak walked back to his cot he looked around for Sand and Dust. He didn't see them, just people doing their everyday duties. He got back to his cot and had a lot of questions on his mind. _Why didn't the monsters kill us? Why did they inflict the same injuries on both me and Raven?_ And Flak felt as if left something out of his Lagiacrus story.

"How are you feeling?" the feminine voice behind him startled him. He turned around to see Ali standing there. "Sorry. Did I scare you?" "Well yah." He said as he blushed and covered it up with a laugh. "Well how _are_ you doing?" "I'm doing great." Flak looked to the left to see Giranamo come out of his room, hand him a glass of juice, then turn and walk back into his room. Flak shrugged and took a sip. "Ali laughed. It was nice. He liked seeing her laugh. He felt the time was right. He closed his eyes and started to lean forward.

Then he heard her laughing. He opened his eyes to see her turned away from him. He leaned back as if nothing happened at looked to see what she was laughing at. Giranamo must have been trying to get something out of the fruit basked and pulled it down on him self. The bowl was on his head like a hat and the fruit was spilled all around him. He would of laughed too if he hadn't just tried and failed to kiss Ali for the first time.

Things like that happened all the time and he got used to it.

**Sorry it took so long. I hope you enjoy. Is it too short or too long? Is it not filled with enough material? Please give me feedback. I'll try to get the next chapter in, in three weeks. **


	6. Chapter 6: Ludroth trouble

Flak woke up to a strange noise that sounded as if it was coming from the wall behind his head. It had been a week since his first doctor appointment. The purple goop had pretty much gone away and his gash had stopped bothering him.

He sat up as the scraping noise intensified. He turned around. It sounded like claws trying to escape from the wall. He started to worry. What was in his wall? It could be a monster.

"Giranamo?" he called for his feline to come and see the situation and try to figure out what was happening. He didn't come. The scraping continued. _Where's Giranamo? _Then he heard Giranamo's voice and it sounded very distant. "Giranamo?" Then all of the sudden the wall broke. Flak jumped back to avoid the thing that was falling out of his wall. As the dust settled Flak realized that the thing that fell out of the wall was Giranamo! "Giranamo? W-what were you doing in the wall?" The feline stood up. "Sorry master." He panted. "I was chasing a really big bug, nya. It looked dangerous so I tried to catch it so it wouldn't bite you or something. I chased it into the hole in the wall. I did not get it."

He was covered in dirt because of his ordeal in the wall. "I'll go take a bath now." The Feline walked away. "Ok. Well- thanks for trying." Flak called after his assistant. "Yeour welcome, nya." Then he walked into the bathing room. _He'll take days to lick all of that dust and dirt off of him._ Flak laughed to himself.

Flak looked back at the hole in the wall and took a deep breath. He appreciated Giranamo's service and dedication but he was young and made quite a few mistakes. Then he thought, _well I'm pretty much the same way so were perfect for each other._

Flak stood up on one leg and lifted up his shirt. The bite marks were healed but still left huge scars. And he liked it. They looked awesome. Almost every hunter has a scar or two on their body. Flak had already got his! He rolled his shirt back down and went for his crutches. He walked over to the fruit bowl and took a couple of berries and an orange.

Flak walked out of his cot to see three hunters come in through the entrance tunnel and they didn't look happy. _They must be the morning patrol_. Then all of a sudden Flak felt a slap on his back. He turned around to see another of Trojin's friends, Hemer. "You slept in again." "Oh sorry Hemer. I didn't mean too-." "You are supposed to be up before the morning patrol goes out." "It won't happen again." Hemer nodded. "Ok." He paused. "I know your handicapped but can you please go get the armor grease cleaner from the supply room and bring it to Trojin's cot?" "Yes, sir." "Good." With that he turned around and walked to Trojin's room. Flak watched him the whole way.

Flak turned around and started to walk towards the supply room. On his way there he saw the patrol come up to the second in command, Jarus. "What's the madder." He said as the patrol approached. The hunter in the lead, Wham spoke. "We had some trouble at the Shadowfall border. Well first we saw an Aptonoth on our territory coming from the Shadowfall territory. Then all of a sudden a Shadowfall hunter came out and sliced the Aptonoth's head with a long sword. He had just killed a monster on our territory."

Flak looked up to see Kkalas come out of the leader's cot at the top of a large rock. At the top of the rock there are naturally vines draping all over the rock. There are so many vines there is a mass of them. There are so many vines; there is a room inside of all of the vegetation. And that is where the leaders of Thundersky clan have been for as long as there have been monsters in the swamp.

She came down the pathway leading down from the cot in Lagiacrus armor and met up with the small group. "What's going on?" she asked. "Shadowfall clan again." Jarus said. He quickly gave her the rundown on the situation. She looked at Wham. "Continue." He nodded. "He killed the thing so we went up to him. We challenged him and told him to get out of our territory. He said 'No' and said it was in his territory right before he killed it. Then we countered it and said it was on our territory. He backed off and said we would pay." Kkalas nodded. "Is the Aptonoth still out there?" "We left Gurtigo out there to guard it and I think we should go back and get the meat." Jarus spoke next. "I agree. Why waste it and let monsters or Shadowfall clan take it." "Ok that's a good plan. Make sure to take the big supply bags."

The three hunters nodded and went to the supply room to get their bags. Then that reminded Flak. He had to get the grease. He did so.

He stepped into the giant doorway of Trojin's cot with a bottle of armor grease. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but when they did Flak saw three figures sitting down next to a fire place on big cozy couches. They were Trojin, Reilliek and Hemer. "About time!" Hemer exclaimed. "Oh give him a break." Reilliek said. Flak noticed that all of the hunters had their armor off and was lying in front of them. Hemer had Gobul armor; Reilliek had Agnaktor armor and Trojin had Deviljho armor. "Here lad." Trojin gestured to hand him the bottle. Flak did. "Thank you." Trojin said. Flak nodded and left the cot.

He was getting bored just hanging around camp all day doing chores. But what could he do? His crippled ness would get him killed by an Altoroth.

Flak sighed. Griffin said he would have to wait a month for his leg to heal enough to go out hunting.

Flak turned on his crutches to see Ali standing right there. "Oh, hi." Ali said surprised. "I didn't see you there." "Me neither." Flak said as he noticed she was in her leather armor. The only exception was the Royal Ludroth coat she was wearing. She caught Flak looking at her and she broke the silence. "So, have you heard anything new about Raven? Flak looked up and said. "Well, yah. I've heard that he still is having the purple goop and his bite mark has started bleeding. Ali shook her head. "Poor Raven." She looked at Flak with a smile. "And your only problem is holding onto that crutch with four fingers." They both laughed.

Her smile faded. "Hey Flak can we go somewhere…private?" Flak instantly replied. "Yes." "Ok. Let's go to your place."

Flak followed behind her. _It's actually going to happen. I'm going to get my first kiss from Ali! _They walked into his cot then she turned around. "I have to tell you something Flak." Flak nodded. "Yes?" "I was walking through the swamp earlier today and I saw one of those bushes. You know? The one you told me about, the ones that grow those monster controlling berries."

Flak sat down on his bed disappointed but still intrigued by her story. "Well how did you know what they look like?" "I read about it in one of my books." She looked over at his book shelf. "Only four books?" Flak smiled as he remembered looking at Ali's bookshelf. It had at least 100 books on it. She could read for days on end about Rathalos psychology or how the Flooded Forest originated or the history of weapons and armor. All Flak had was one on the monsters of the world, one on monsters of the Flooded Forest, Lagiacrus reproduction and monsters of the Volcano. That one had been given to him by Reilliek on one of his many trips to that region.

Ali took a deep breath and Flak spoke. "Why did you want to say that in private? Shouldn't the whole clan know about it, or at least Kkalas?" Ali looked down. "I didn't want the whole clan to hear about It because…" she stopped. Flak stood up gingerly. "You can tell me anything." Ali looked into Flak's eyes. "I fed a few to a Kelbi and I still have a few in my pocket and I was afraid that people would think it was me that hurt you and R-raven." She started stuttering. "It's ok Ali-."

Just then they heard a crumbling sound behind them. Flak turned around slowly to see that the hole that Giranamo had entered was crumbling away. "What the-." Then a Ludroth head sprouted from the opening. Ali jumped back but Flak stayed where he was. The Ludroth squirmed to break the wall enough to fit one of its legs through. Flak dove for his sword but his leg limited his speed. He grabbed the shield just in time to deflect a water ball shot by the Ludroth. By the time Flak got his sword the Ludroth was almost all of the way in his cot. Flak moved to the left to dodge a lunge but was painful because of his leg.. Flak turned and slashed the lizards back but it just whipped its head around to bite him. Flak blocked it as he hit it on the head with the Ludroth nail.

Flak looked out of the corner of his eye but didn't see Ali.

The Ludroth whipped its tail which knocked his bed to the side. Flak sliced a leg but it didn't do much. The lizard leaped. Flak held up his shield only to be knocked back into the wall. He slid down and realized the Ludroth had him pinned. The Ludroth swiped away the shield that Flak was holding up then reared his head back to go for the kill.

Then all of the sudden, there was a lance through the monster's head. Flak laid stunned as he watched the 800 pound beast go crashing into his bead, breaking it in half. Flak looked to the right to see Ali holding a steel lance. They both had a blank stare on their faces as they stared at each other. Then Ali smiled and started to laugh. Flak smiled too, closed his eyes, caught his breath and rested his head on the wall.

When he opened his eyes back up Ali had sheathed her lance. "You owe me." She laughed. "Yah." Flak was just happy that they were both alive.

Ali came over to help flak up as hunters came in and looked surprised that a monster had breached the camp wall. They were discussing what they could do about he gaping hole in the wall and how they were going to get the monster out of there.

Then Flak heard a noise. Like a small whimpering noise. Then he heard Giranamo's voice. "Is it-t ov-ver?" "Yes come out Giranamo." Ali said. Giranamo came out of his room but stayed away from the body.

Flak sighed in pain as Ali walked him to Griffin's office.

**So. Not enough action, too much fluff? What? I need to know what you guys do and don't like. I got this done in four days. Now that's efficiency. **


	7. Chapter 7: Tentions build

**Sorry about the typos in the last chapter. The last sentence was meant to say 'to the doctor's office.' Not 'office.' I don't know why it did that. Hope you enjoy this chapter. **

Flak slowly cut the cast off of his leg with his knife and let the bandage fall onto his floor. He looked at the scar that was left. The once bloody gash was now healed over in a protective layer of flesh. Flak let the fresh air touch the scar. It felt good. Griffin told him he could take it off today and resume hunting, which Flak was very happy about.

Flak had the injury for over two months and it was nice to finally get the cast off. He had also been staying in Wham's cot for the past few days until his was repaired.

Flak stood up and put all of his weight on his injured leg and barely felt a thing.

_Great. _Flak thought. He walked over to his armor and put in on. He took his sword and shield and item pouch. He strapped the item pouch to his waist and the shield on his wrist. He looked at the new Royal Ludroth chest armor which looked quite impressive.

We had been planning to go hunting with Raven, since he had recently recovered from his injuries. Flak walked out of the cot and over to Raven, who was talking to his old mentor Stremmus. "So that's when you go for the leg jab." Stremmus instructed Raven with his hammer. "Here you go." The hunter said as he passed the Ludroth club back to him. "Ok. Thanks Stremmus." Stremmus nodded as he walked away.

"Ready to go?" Flak said to Raven. "Yah. Let's go kill some Ludroth. One of the elders need a Hydro hide for an art project their doing or something." "Ok, good." Flak replied.

Raven and Flak walked into the thorn tunnel that let to the outside of camp. Flak soon saw light and the silhouette of Raven as they reached the other side of the tunnel. Raven walked out onto muddy ground. When Flak emerged from the tunnel he realized that it was lightly showering, but people of the Flooded Forest get used to it. "I say we check down by the River." Raven started. "The recent rains probably have it flowing fast and the Ludroth are likely to be resting on the shores." Flak nodded and they headed toward their destination.

"I need some herbs too." Flak commented. I haven't gotten any since my-um accident." Raven didn't respond. "Are you OK?" Raven started to say something but it didn't seem to come out. Flak stopped walking. "What is it Raven?" Flak asked strongly. Raven gulped "About a week before my accident I was walking through the forest alone. I heard a noise and I d-didn't know what it was so I checked it out." He took a deep breath and didn't look up. "I pushed some ferns aside and I saw Trojin…with a bunch of Ludroth and Kelbi around him. But they weren't attacking him." Flak stared intensely at Raven gaping in suspense. What could a senior be doing with a bunch of Ludroth…? Then it dawned on him. Raven looked up "He had Krakus berries in his hand. He had intoxicated them."

Flak looked on in puzzlement. "Why would Trojin have taken over monsters or not tell any body about the berries?"

"I don't know what to do. I don't want to rat out a senior hunter for something we don't know is bad." Flak considered the comment Raven had just made. "And there's another question. Why have these plants been appearing again?" The two bows sat in silence for a few seconds. "Let's get to hunting." Raven suggested. "Good idea."

The duo snuck up to the beach and hid behind a low fern to find an 'as predicted by Raven' swelled up river. There were seven Ludroth on the muddy beach. Raven started to worry. "Can we take all of them?" "Of course we can." said Flak with a smile. "You know the routine." Raven nodded and looked back at the monsters.

"On three." Raven said. Flak nodded "One, two…three!" Flak ran out onto the edge of the group waved his arms and yelled "Hey, come and get me you overgrown funguses!" Of course all of the Ludroth looked in his direction. Four of the Ludroth instantly curled up on the muddy sand and did not move. One of the Ludroth roared and reared back to spit a water ball at him. Flak held up his shield and absorbed the blow. He also noticed two more Ludroth come up on either side of the first one. Flak ran backwards to avoid a large pair of jaws.

Flak noticed Raven sneaking up on the curled up Ludroth. While running away from three very angry male Ludroth he yelled to Raven "Don't hurt the females, their guarding their nests!" Raven acknowledged the order and came over to help Flak. One of the Ludroth broke off the group to go for Raven. When he was within attacking range Raven pulled out his Ludroth bone maul and smashed the Ludroths head into the ground. It got back up but Raven kept on attacking it. Flak looked back to see the Ludroth were beginning to slow.

_This was a terrible idea to attack a nesting site._

Flak stopped suddenly and the two Ludroth went flying past him. He swung out his sword and jumped on the Ludroth's to his right, back. He flung his Ludroth nail around its neck and sliced it open multiple times.

His triumph was short lived. He felt a heavy impact on his left and he went flying into the plants. He suddenly felt a slight pain on the side of his head when a Ludroth popped out of the reeds next to him. It landed on top of him. He felt Ludroth claws digging into his armor.

He closed his eyes. Sure of death when he felt the beast on top of him flinch. It then fell on top of him unmoving. Flak was getting suffocated.

Then the thing rolled off of him. Flak took a deep breath to see overcast skies and the face of Raven. "Are you OK?" His voice sounded far away. "Are you OK?" Raven said. Flak's moment of temporary deafness was over. "Y-yah. I'm fine.

Flak looked over to see a dead Ludroth with his scull smashed in. "Are all of the males dead?" Flak asked. "Yes. But as you know more will come from upriver when the tide goes down. Flak nodded and noticed Raven had a bruise forming on his fore head. "Don't worry about that." Raven said. Flak blinked heavily "Now lets get those hydro hides."

**Back at camp**

Flak and Raven had split up. Raven gave a hydro hide to Euripo. The elder that needed it while Flak went to to get his wounds checked out. Griffin said they were nothing so Flak went back to his cot.

While walking he heard Jarus talking to a patrol that had just come in from the Riverflowclan border. Jarus looked stressed. "Now we have hostile incidents from both of our borders." Another member of the patrol, Hemer, spoke next. "They said we sent the Ludroth over to attack them and that we fed them the berries." Flak looked over at Wham. The hunter that saw the Shadowfall hunter kill that Aptonoth on Thundersky territory. In the end Thundersky clan won the dispute over the prey but Shadowfall clan is still a threat. Kkalas said she would guess that a battle would be coming up soon. And now to add onto all of that tension Riverflow clan is being thrown into the mix.

Riverflow clan usually tries to expand their borders past the river but it never lasts for long.

Flak walked on. _Great. The berries are being fed to Ludroth and are attacking other clans now._

He pushed the thought aside and went to his cot. He still had the Royal Ludroth scull in his room. It reminded him of what his next goal is, to find the reason behind all of the recent mysterious attacks.

Then Flak remembered that tomorrow was the gathering. Every full moon all four clans meet at the ancient tree. Where all four territories meet. Hunters and villagers come to gatherings. People from other clans mingle with each other and all four leaders speak to the crowd on how their clan is doing. Once you turn the age of 16 years you are allowed to go to a gathering. So tomorrow will be Flak's, Ali's and Raven's first. They were all born at around the same moon full moon. People like Sand and Dust had already gone to a few gatherings. But Flak didn't care. He was excited.

**There. It's done. I have A LOT in store for the future chapters. I already have up to chapter 11 planned out. I don't know if what I'm doing is appealing to you guys. I'm trying to figure out how to make it so it's interesting. I don't know what to do… oh wait a minute. You guys can review and tell me what you want! Please review. I need it to keep followers. Sorry it was so late. **


	8. Chapter 8: First gathering

**Ok. The whole thing with the doctor is fixed. The doctor's name is doctor Griffin or just Griffin. I updated the past chapters to fix that. It now says Griffin. If you are new to this story or didn't notice anything then you have no need to worry. **

Flak walked in the center of his clan mates on the solid ground while heading for the gathering. Kkalas was in the lead followed by Jarus. All the rest of the hunters and villagers followed behind them. The moon was high in the sky and it was colder than usual. But Flak didn't care. To his right were Raven and Ali and they were all heading to their first gathering.

"I wonder what it'll be like." Raven commented. "I think were all wondering that." Ali said half heartedly. Flak noticed that Ali had been down lately. He knew exactly why; the berry incident. Flak had told her it was no big deal but she doesn't seem to think so. Flak had told Raven about it, and had told Ali Raven's story.

He had talked to Ali since she first told him about it. She had gotten rid of the berries that she had in her pocket but she still felt as if someone would figure out what she was hiding. "No need to worry about it." Flak whispered to her. "Yah I guess your right." She said in full volume. Raven looked over "What?" "I was just trying to soothe her."

A female hunter, Shel, came up behind the group and tapped on Ali's shoulder. "Come with me. Trojin wants to see you." Ali looked at Flak with a hint of fear on her face. Flak nodded. "Ok." Was all she said. Shel walked to the front of the group and Ali followed.

When she was out of earshot Raven leaned closer to Flak. "You like her don't you?" he said with a slight smile. When Flak didn't say any thing Raven kept on persisting. "Whenever she's within twenty feet of you, you start spazing out." Flak looked at him. "Really?" Raven nodded back. "I've got to try to control that then." "So you do like her…" "We kind of like each other… ahhh, why did I say that." Raven smiled and leaned back. "That's all I need to know."

Embarrassed, Flak looked back to the front of the group to see Trojin walking next to Ali in a conversation. "I wonder what they're talking about." As soon as he said that he saw Ali nod and start to make her way back to Flak and Raven.

"What did he have to say?" Raven questioned. "He asked about Griffin." "What?" "He asked to see if you…" she pointed to Flak "told me any thing about why Griffin became a doctor." "Well that's strange." Raven said. "What did you say?" Flak asked. "That I didn't know anything." "Why would he ask about that?" Raven looked over. "Well, Griffin had something to do with the Krakus berries when that Lagiacrus attacked him." He lowered his voice. "And Trojin seems to have some connection with the berries as well." Ali spoke next. "But what would that matter to Trojin? Why would something that happened…twenty or so years ago bother him?"

Everyone went silent. "Could Trojin be responsible for the attacks on me and Raven?" Flak asked. Raven looked stunned that Flak had even said that. "I highly doubt it-." Then cut him self off. "Well maybe." He said looking down as he remembered his encounter with Trojin in the swamp.

"Were almost there." Ali said.

They all looked up to see a huge and ancient tree's hollowed tree stump. It was at least twenty meters high and had moss growing on all sides of it. The tree that it held up sat lying on the ground, over a kilometer long forming the border in between Shadowfall territory and Windgust territory. The tree had fallen long before any legends were ever told.

The three newcomers gawked at the giant stump as they came up close to it. Flak had seen it from a distance before but not this close. The group slowed as the clan went through a tunnel in the side of the stump. Big enough for three men to walk shoulder to shoulder through at one time.

"Remember. There's a truce tonight, so no fighting." The group turned around to see Gurtigo looking down at them. "Yes." Raven and Flak responded. Gurtigo was Ali's mentor up until two months ago.

Only two hunters from each clan were allowed to carry weapons to gatherings. And they were only allowed to use them as protection from monsters. Wham and Uopia were the ones carrying. Wham with a switch axe and Uopia with her long sword.

The three filed into the gathering area. Inside was amazing. In the center of the clearing was a large mass of rocks with a flat top. Skirting that was just a bunch of dirt. But the size amazed Flak the most. It was at least eighty meters across. "Gosh." Was the first thing Raven said as he entered, and it left Ali speechless.

Two other clans were already in the clearing mingling with each other. Riverflow clan and Windgust clan. They all saw Thundersky clan come in and a few Windgust clan villagers and hunters even came over to greet them. Riverflow clan and Windgust clan were friendly with each other, but Windgust clan was neutral with Thundersky clan.

Flak looked around and was overwhelmed. All of his other clan mates were dispersing into the crowd. Flak didn't know anybody.

Flak saw Kkalas climb the rock pile and join up with the other two leaders. Both males. Flak didn't know the Windgust clan's leader's name, but he did know the Riverflow's. His name was LaAron. He stood a good six foot, three inches and was head to toe in Barioth armor. He did also wear what looked like a Lagiacrus tooth on a necklace around his neck.

A sharp pain on the back of Flak's neck broke his concentration on the leaders. He turned around to see Sand and Dust standing behind him, smiling with two young Windgust hunters standing next to them. "What was that!?" Flak yelled. Dust held up what looked like a long spine. It looked like a Gobul spine. Flak's eyes widened as he realized he would probably be paralyzed in a matter of minutes. A smile spread across the group's faces, seeing the gradual realization of Flak's fear. Then they all started laughing. Anger spread through Flak's body. He clenched his fists.

He then felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Ali's voice. "Don't do anything stupid, Flak. It's a gathering. Their trying to make you mad." "But they poked me with-." One of the Windgust clan hunters in the midst of his laughing was able to say- "It's-ha- a piece of sharpened wood! Ha, ha, ha!"

Flak unclenched his fists as relief spread over them.

The four started walking away and Sand yelled back "Flak the fluke!" Flak turned to Ali and Raven to find that Raven had gone into the crowd. "What does that even mean?" "I don't know." Ali said outright.

"Oh look. Shadowfall clan is here." Flak looked over and sure enough, there was a large group of hunters and villagers coming down into the clearing from the Shadowfall side of the stump. Their leader, Grundel had only been leader for about three moons and was not that popular among the other clans because most people got the impression that he was a sloppy leader. He was the reason that Thundersky clan and Shadowfall were hostile with each other. There were some rumors that he had been training infants how to hunt ever since they were able to hold a sword; and that was frowned upon among the clans. He had all Lagiacrus armor on. He climbed on the rock pile with the other leaders.

Then the Riverflow clan leader turned to the crowd and yelled… "The gathering has started. Please take a seat." Everyone in the clearing sat down on the ground. Flak and Ali followed. "Thank you. To start off this gathering I am proud to say that Riverflow clan is doing very well. The rivers are abundant with fish and hunting has been successful. There was one problem with a Ludroth being fed Krakus berries. One attacked a patrol of ours." He paused and looked over at where the main concentration of Thundersky clan was and continued. "We have had some trouble with Thundersky the past few weeks. We have had many, many conflicts with them as you all know. But I will say we will come out victorious once again." Some Shadowfall and Riverflow members clapped.

It was LaAron's turn to speak. "We have had an unusual occurrence of Ludroth infestation or over breeding in our territory. There seems to be at least three times more Ludroth than there were before-."

"Rathian!" Someone yelled somewhere from the Riverflow or Windgust side of the clearing. Everyone gasped and looked up. Flak looked up and sure enough in the moon light was the silhouette of a Rathian. Most of the villagers were yelling and running, and the hunters were herding them out of the many different exits at the base of the stump.

Flak started to make his way towards the entrance when he knew Ali was behind him. Then he heard everyone scream and start to evade faster. He looked up to see the she-dragon diving at a high speed toward the clearing. Flak hit the ground and took Ali with him when the monster went swooping over their heads and pick up a villager and carry him off.

"Go!" Flak yelled to Ali over all of the commotion and crying. Ali stood up. "Come on!" The two squeezed themselves out and under the protection of droopy trees among most of the other people from mixed clans.

Then came the screech. The blood curling scream of a Rathian, symbolizing it has a kill.

The villager next to Flak from a different clan started to freak out. "I've got to get out' a here!" He squeezed out of the small crowd and ran out onto the wide path going into Thundersky territory. "No-o!" Flak yelled after him. When he was about fifty meters down the path, a large shadow fell over the man. He tripped, looked up and screamed. Not even a third of a second later the twenty ton Rathian swooped down and sliced the man's face in less than half of a second. Blood splattered everywhere and the man went flying at least six meters. Ali and many of the villagers gasped quietly. Flak tensed.

Then coming from the air a two meter smaller Rathian came clumsily down behind the adult. "It has a baby!" Ali exclaimed behind him quietly. The Adult turned around and pushed the youngling gently with her head towards the dead villager.

Flak could see, across the path, Kkalas and other hunters and villagers hiding among other trees, looking at the spectacle.

He looked back to see the baby walk up to the corpse, with the adult Rathian watching intensely. It stopped when it reached the body and stiffed it for almost thirty seconds, when the adult grunted. The baby leaned down and started tearing into the belly of the villager with her beak. Flak had to look away.

He looked back up to see five hunters approaching the dragon silently from the direction of the stump. One was Uopia, and the other four were from the other clans.

_The other three must be sneaking up on it from another direction. _Flak thought.Ali spoke, "They'll probably just scare it away. It won't put up a fight if it has a baby unless it can't fly away."

In the group were two bow gunners, one Great swordsman, Uopia with her Long Sword and one carrying a Lance.

The two bow gunners set up and aimed at the Adult. The other hunters stayed where they were but got their weapons ready. One of the bow gunners whispered… "Three, two, one, fire." With that they both shot one round. The boom echoed around the swamp because there was no noise but the sound of flash being torn. The two shots hit the large dragon on the tail. It spun around so quickly it almost hit its own young. The other three hunters charged.

The Rathian screeched and took off into the air. Its baby followed. Everybody watched as the pair flew off into the distance. Everyone came out from their cover of trees to exchange surprised remarks. Flak noticed some Thundersky hunters among the group with Kkalas.

The three other hunters emerged from further down the path including Wham. They made their way towards the main group and stopped once the reached the body.

"It'll come back." Flak turned to see Hemer. "They don't leave that easily." Hemer said directed to Flak and then leaned in. "They never do." With that he stood back up, gave Flak a small smile then went to go find, what Flak thought, was Trojin.

"There is definitely something up with Trojin's group." Flak said as he turned to Ali. "Wait. Where's Raven?!" "Don't worry. I saw him run out the entrance that the Rathians didn't go near." Flak eased knowing his friend was safe but the only thing worrying him now was the Rathian.

**Man that was a hard chapter to write. Adding so many concepts like that in one chapter. If you haven't already please take the poll that is on my profile page. I want to see what monsters you guys like so I can incorporate them into thin story. Also if you like this story, please go read my other Monster Hunter Fan Fic, ****Monster Creator 1****. You may find… well I'll leave that up to. Don't worry. People don't actually create monsters. Just read and find out. Thank you all for your dedication and reading this far. You're great.**


	9. Chapter 9: Rathian fight

**Heeeeeey every body. Nothing much to say here, so, enjoy Ch. 9.**

Flak woke in his cot to the smell of meat cooking. He sat up to see Giranamo standing on a stool with a frying pan at the stove. "Giranamo!" Flak exclaimed. "What?" Flak ran over and took a pale of water and quickly put the fire out on the stove. "What was that frrrrr?" Giranamo exclaimed with a hint of anger in his voice. Flak put the pale down. "You know Kkalas said no cooking meat until this Rathian is killed or captured. Those things can smell a drop of blood a kilometer away, let alone cooking meat." "Well, jeeeze. I was just making breakfast, nya." Flak couldn't help but break a smile. "Just pay attention more, ok?" "Oh ok. Nya."

Then Flak heard commotion in the camp. "Better get my equipment ready." Flak walked over to his table and got his pouch and put a few paint balls and flash bombs in it. He got his armor on and got his sword. He looked at to see that there was a large nick on the blade. It had been there when Trojin gave it to him, and he had never asked why. Flak took a banana and left his cot.

When he emerged from the cot people were running around every where. Some were carrying items or bags and some were directing others.

Seeing the confusion Flak walked over to a villager that just got an order from Jarus to put the bag of flower he was carrying, somewhere. "What's going on?" The panicked villager looked at Flak. "The- the beast is coming. It took three people from Riverflow, two from Windgust and two or three from Shadowfall. Someone from Windgust just came to warn us. Its coming!" he yelled as he ran into the storage room.

"Flak!" Flak looked to see Jarus waving him over quickly. Flak went over. "Yes?" "Be ready. All hunters are going to guard camp." Upon hearing that Flak froze but was brought back to reality when Dust shoved him and said to stop spacing out. "Go put those bags of flour from the kitchen into the storage room. They won't light on fire in there."

Flak nodded then ran into the kitchen and picked up one of the last bags of flour and did as he was told. He As he came out of the storage room he noticed almost all of the villagers were getting water from the well in the center of the clearing and putting it in pales. Flak joined in.

After a while even Kkalas was helping with the buckets. After about three pales later he noticed that most of the villagers were in their cots. The hunters were hanging in the shadows at the edge of the clearing waiting for the Rathian to come. Raven came up next to Flak. "Where's Giranamo?" "Hiding under his bed." Raven couldn't help but break a smile at that one. "Where's Ali?" Flak asked. "Over there." Raven pointed across the clearing towards the villager cots. She was under the overhang by Stremmus and Reilliek."

Flak nodded and looked around. He noticed Trojin, by the far end of the hunter cots, Hemer by the entrance of camp and Reilliek by Ali, were all evenly distributed throughout the camp. _Kkalas or Jarus probably just wants the most experienced hunters spread out._

And then at no worse time the heavens opened up. In a matter of minutes a torrential down pour was upon the camp.

It was only five minutes later that the first screech echoed through the rain. Everybody's head perked up. If there was any noise from the Rathians wings, the heavy rain drowned it out.

The first thing Flak saw was the foot-long claws, then wings, then the head. It landed in the clearing but fell to the left. It seemed to be injured. "Charge!" the yell of Jarus was heard around the camp. Already Reilliek had his Dancing Flames long sword out and sliced at its leg then ran out of the way to let Stremmus with his Ludroth Bone Mace and Uopia with her Anatana Blade long Sword to injure it further more.

Flak ran into the rain to see Wham on the outskirts just out of range of the dragon shooting slicing bullets at it. Kkalas was running up to it with her barbarian blade, Jarus was equipped with his Fossil Gear R sword with Sand by his side carrying her assassins dagger. Hemer was staying behind the front line of hunters with his Vulcanis Great Sword incase it broke out from the first group of hunters. Gurtigo was doing this also with his Spiral Lance with Dust at his side, and Trojin was in the heat of the fight with his Deviljho Switch axe along with Shel and her sword.

After the Rathian did an around the world tail spin; knocking Wham off of his feet, Flak dove in. He sliced at its wing and ducked when its head went sweeping around. Reilliek came back in and dealt a deadly blow to the leg then evaded again. Fire erupted from the sword and the Rathian screeched. "Flash bomb!" Someone yelled. Flak hit the ground and closed his eyes. When he saw a flash of light and heard the Rathian give a squeal of surprise, he got back up and went over to the dazed Rathian. Flak went for her leg. The Ludroth nail bounced off the dragons scales.

Shel did the same with her Azi Kadaki and sliced into the wound that Reilliek had just dealt. Gurtigo blocked a bite with his shield. The Rathian pulled away and ran to the other side of the clearing to get away from the mass of hunters but lost her balance in the mud and Kkalas, Hemer, Sand and Raven were already there, never ceasing to hit the dragon, all the while Wham was bombarding it with his medium powered Bow Gun, wary of not hitting the hunters.

Flak ran over to the Rathian. As soon as he got there it fell down. Staying away from the claws he went for the tail but didn't get many slices in because of the scales. When it got back up Flak ran to the side and used a Whetstone. He saw Ali with her lance attacking the side of the Rathian.

The beast charged at Hemer, who rolled out of the way to avoid the claws. Jarus wasn't so lucky. The claws hit his Gobul body armor and got stuck in them. Every time the Rathian took a step, Jarus was being squashed. Everyone stepped back as it rose ten meters in the air. It shook its leg very fast four or five times and Jarus went flying. He hit the hunter's cots and fell to the ground unmoving.

The Rathian then fell to the ground because it wasn't high enough to fly. The injured leg wasn't enabling it to take off as well as it would have.

Flak saw Shel, Dust and Raven go over to Jarus and drag him over to the medical den. Trojin jumped on the back of the heavily wounded dragon and raised his switch axe in axe form and brought it down hard on the Rathians head. Wham shot it and Gurtigo lanced it through the eye. Trojin switched to sword and sliced the head four more times until the brain was leaking out.

Out of breath Trojin sat down on the neck of the Rathian. After a couple of second he said in between gasps for air. "It's dead. There were a couple moments of rejoicing but it was short lived.

The villagers started to come out of their dens. Everyone checked themselves for injuries. The only major one was that Stremmus had burns on the right side of his face from when the Rathian let out a few ashes of anger. Uopia, Stremmus's wife, walked him to the medical den.

"How's Jarus?" Hemer spoke. Every hunter looked towards the medical den. Some started to walk over but were stopped when Griffin emerged. He looked up at the hunters with a sad look. "H-h-his heart was ripped out. He's dead."

**That leaves you something to think about, doesn't it? This story has gone a lot different than I intended it too. Honestly. I'm going to tell you guys what I was going to have happen. I was going to have Shadowfall clan attack and Ali get killed in the process. But looking at this Jarus died instead. ): I actually watched the MH3 opening video to get me pumped up about writing this. And I fought a Rathian so I could get accurate measurements on its claws. Review**


	10. Chapter 10: An unexpected brawl

**Sorry it's been so long. I've got to start setting more goals. Here's Ch.10**

Jarus's funeral was the next day. He was dressed in new armor and he had his sword. The elders carried him out in a wooden case and set him in the newly dug hole outside of camp as most people watched. It had already started to fill up with muddy water because of the rain, but that's the way he would have wanted it, said one of the elders, Mague. She said that he told her once that he would like to be buried in moist soil. And he did. Some stayed and said their last good byes before Raven, Flak, and a couple of other villager boys filled the hole back up.

That night the camp was still silent. Kkalas had to pick a new second in command soon. It had almost been a full day. The general etiquette was that once a second command steps down or dies, the leader has to choose a new one in twenty four hours. It was getting close to that point.

The Rathian had been only partially cut up. It was still sitting, rotting in the edge of the clearing. The scales had peen picked off and Flak got new Rathian Leggings. Raven and Dust both chose to receive arm armor, and Ali got a new helmet, (which Flak thought looked good on her.)

Flak was sitting on the side of the clearing under the over hang of the hunter cots when Raven came and sat by him. It was still raining. "Pretty sucky couple of days, huh?" "Yeah." Flak replied. "The Guild is coming tomorrow. The 200 Rathian scales request will be well met, along with those 50 hydro hides." Raven nodded. Just then did Flak realize Raven had a steaming cup of coffee. The black haired hunter took a careful sip. "How much zini will the camp be receiving?" Flak thought and added all of the quests that had been completed, up in his head. "About 35,000." "Not bad."

A second later Raven went into a coughing fit. Flak looked at him as it went on for about a minute. "A- are you ok?" "Cough- cough, gah. Yeah- gah." Raven cleared his thought. "I'm ok. I'll go to my cot now." "Ok." Raven stood up and walked three cots down and entered.

Flak looked up into the rain, coming from overcast skies, imagining the guild blimp coming down into the clearing.

He looked back down into the almost empty clearing. Flak looked over to the leaders den to see Hemer, Reilliek, Kkalas, and an unhappy looking Trojin and emerge. The three senior hunters went all around the camp calling people out of their cots, and ushering them towards the clearing. When people started gathering around the large rock where the leader speaks, Flak got up and joined in. Two minutes later the clearing was crowded and Kkalas spoke.

"Hello, members of Thundersky clan. I think you all know why I called you here today. I am appointing a new second in command." Happy murmurs rippled throughout the clearing. "I made crucial decisions along with Trojin, Reilliek and Hemer. And we have decided that the new second in command of Thundersky clan is, Stremmus!" Everyone clapped and cheered including Flak as a stunned and surprised Stremmus walked up the pathway to the top of the rock. When he arrived Kkalas was looked at Stremmus with a slight smile. "Stremmus! Stremmus!" Everyone cheered.

When the new deputy came up to Kkalas the cheering died down. "Stremmus. I chose you as the Second in command of Thundersky clan because of your fearlessness in battle, have stunning hunting and tracking abilities, and most importantly, you put your clan before your self." Stremmus nodded. "I Kkalas leader of Thundersky clan ask you, Stremmus, are you ready for the responsibility to be the deputy of this great clan?" "I am." "Well congratulations." The crowd cheered as Stremmus went back with Kkalas to her den to discuss the new politics.

Flak turned to see everybody dispersing and getting out of the rain. Flak started back and stopped when he spotted Trojin, Reilliek and Hemer standing at the entrance of the camp. A second later, they stood upright and went out the tunnel. And the weird thing was, they didn't have their weapons.

_What are they up to?_ Flak noticed they didn't cheer or at least clap when Stremmus was appointed.

Flak thought on that as he walked out of the rain.

**The next day**

Flak woke up to hear… well nothing. The rain had stopped along with the annoying patter of it hitting his roof. He stood up out of bed. "Waaaaaant some berries?" Giranamo asked as he yawned and held up a plate full of berries. "Sure." He took them and ate them.

When he was done he got dressed and went into the clearing. Most of the rest of the clan was up. Flak walked over to the well and splashed some water in his face. Then a horn sounded in the distance. Everybody looked up. "That was the guild." Stremmus yelled. "They'll be here in five minutes. Get the chests ready." Wham and Gurtigo went into the storage room and cameo out with two large wooden chests filled with requested items from the guild.

Flak walked over to Ali walking across the clearing. "Hey Ali-." "Not now Flak." She said in a firm voice and walked all the way across the clearing to the medicine den. "Wonder what that was all about." Flak close his eyes and breathed out when he heard Dust's voice behind him. "I don't know." he said as he turned around. Dust was in his armor with his new Rathian Chest plate with his Lance on his back. "Oh, well I think I do." He said as he came up close. "Ya see, about two months ago you and Ali went into her cot together and you- well lets just say she now realizes that she's-." Dust couldn't say any more before Flaks fist met with his face. Dust fell to the ground where Flak got on top of him and kept on punching him threw the visor of Dusts helmet. His head bounce in the mud of the clearing.

Flak couldn't do anymore damage before someone grabbed him from behind and threw him off of Flak. Flak looked up to see Gurtigo over him along with other people gathering around. Shel came running by and attended to Dust and helped him sit up. Gurtigo picked Falk up and looked him in the eyes. "What was that!? Do you know what he was about to do!? Go bring some of the villagers out to be taught survival skills. Well guess what. He got punched in the face!" Flak stood there in Gurtigo's grip as he saw Dust stand up, dazed with a few others help. He looked up at looked at Flak with anger in his eyes. But he didn't strike back. He let the adults take him to Doctor Griffin.

"Yah see what you did." Gurtigo said as he released Flak. "Now after the guild is gone go straight to Kkalas and tell her just what happened. Flak looked over to see the balloon on the guild land in the clearing. "But for now. Go to your cot."

With that the only people left watching Flak were a couple of villagers. He looked down and did as Gurtigo said. Just before he was about to enter he looked across the clearing to see if anyone else was looking. And two were, on the other side of the clearing:

Raven and Ali.

Flak closed his eyes and entered.

**Wow. I did not expect that to go like that. Well hope you enjoyed. See ya.**


	11. Chapter 11: Consequnces

Flak looked out the small window of his cot. The balloon took up almost the whole clearing. The door on the side opened. Two men with white robes came out followed by two more in leather armor. Kkalas walked up to the first robed character and shook his hand. They talked for a minute then Kkalas gestured towards the chests. The two people in Leather armor went over, picked them up and brought them into the balloon. Half a minute later they came back out with a smaller chest and put it in front of Kkalas. Flak guessed that, that was the zini. The second white robed man handed Kkalas a scroll. Kkalas smiled and shook hands again. The small guild party walked back into the balloon and took off.

Flak went away from the window and started walking towards the door. But before he got there it opened and Raven stepped in. The two looked at each other. Raven spoke first. "Dude that was awesome!" then gave him a hi five. "He deserved that." "Well he had that coming." Flak responded. Then Ali stepped in. "What did he say to you?" Flak froze. "Um. Nothing important. Uh, I just snapped." She nodded slowly.

"Well Raven and I had been talking and we think we know what's going on with Trojin." "What?" Flak asked. "Well" Raven started. "I think we all know by know that Trojin has Krakus berries under his control." Flak nodded. "We though about how Trojin called Ali up to the front of the group when we were going to the gathering. He asked her about Griffin and his experience with Krakus berries. Maybe he wanted to know where someone got enough berries to use on a Lagiacrus, so that he could use them his self." Ali continued. "Riverflow clan also reported Ludroth attacking their hunters on our border, and they blamed us for it. I don't know why, but, Trojin could be trying to turn the clans against each other." Flak nodded. "Maybe that's why they left without their weapons yesterday." "What?" Raven said. "Well after the ceremony, Trojin, Reilliek, and Hemer left the camp after the clan gathering without their weapons. Maybe they weren't going hunting, but, attending to their… monsters instead." Raven nodded.

Flak looked up "I have to go speak to Kkalas about, that." "Ok" Ali said as she stepped aside to let Flak through. Flak stepped through the doorway and headed towards Kkalas's den. Flak heard Raven coughing as he left. _Giranamo will show them out._ He thought.

Flak pushed the vines draping over the entrance of the den away and entered. Right in front of him was a popo skin rug with a table next to it and chairs. There was also a stove and a large bed. Kkalas was sitting at her desk which was next to the bed against the wall examining a scroll. "Hello Flak." Flak nodded. "Hi. Um- I…" "I saw the whole thing." She paused. "I can't say I'm proud of you, but I can't say I'm disappointed either. There were other ways of handling that situation Flak." She looked up from her scroll. Flak stood there not knowing what to say to the person he considered a parent more than anybody else in the clan. "I mentored you better than that." Then a slight smile crept across her face. "Maybe that Shadowfall blood really took charge there." Flak smiled ant his feet at that one. Then she turned serious again and stood up. "But don't think this will go without punishment. I want you to collect fifty waterblock berries before any hunting." Flak cursed on the inside as he thought of those thorny bushes. "I understand." Kkalas nodded. "Good."

With that Flak left. He walked down the pathway into the clearing and looked over at the dead Rathian. Then a thought occurred to him. _Where's the baby?_

**Uug. Sorry for the wait. I have two stories so pardon me for not writing chapters as fast as I used to. Thanks again. There's still lots to come!**


	12. Chapter 12: An old friend

**This chapter is PACKED guys. I have had some of this planned since the early chapters and I think you will really enjoy this one after such a short and bland last chapter. I really think you guys will like it. I really do.**

Imagine barbed wire with two inch barbs every few inches, mangled up into a tight mess then thrown into a blender and shot out of a cannon. That is what a waterblock seed bush looks like. Every so often there is a large bulbous fruit that grows on the vine and is filled with about ten or fifteen seeds.

From past experiences Flak knew that the barbs were tough enough to pierce through leather armor. He now wished that he asked for Rathian arm gaurds and not leggings.

Flak took a deep breath anyway and took out his sword. He was about three quarters of a kilometer from the camp and had to cross a large pool of water filled with frogs and tadpoles to get to the bush. He started slicing the vines to get to the inedible fruit. He took out his hunting knife as a second blade. After about five minutes of cutting he thought he could reach one of the fruit. Flak reached his hand into the bush as far as he could, grabbed the stem and reached his other arm in and cut it off with his knife. He brought it out slowly but it got snagged on a couple of thorns which rips open the fruit and all but two seeds fall out into the bush.

"Aaag!" Flak exclaimed and but the berries he got into his pouch. He stood up and straightened his back when he heard voices. He recognized them as Reilliek and Hemer. Reilliek was the hunter who spoke the first words that Flak could understand "You don't usually use a bowgun. Look at you being a rebel." "Ha ha ha, don't doubt my abilities Reilliek, I'm a mighty shot." "Ohhhhh. Reaaaly?" They both laughed as they came into view. "Oh. Its Flak." Hemer shot him a disgusted look. "Oh lighten up Hemer." Reilliek said back. "It's not like you never got into a fight with anyone at his age." "Hmmm." Was all Hemer vocalized. "Nice to see you too." Flak said back to Hemer. "Hey. He acknowledged me-." But he cut himself off as he stared into Flaks eyes. He loaded what looked like a Normal Lv.2 shot into his high powered bowgun as he stayed looking into Flaks eyes. Flak took a step back. Hemer lifted his bowgun up and around in less than half a second and pulled the trigger in the complete opposite direction of Flak. Flak looked to where he had shot in confusion to see a Kelbi 100 yards out in the brush only to get hit square in the eye by the bullet. Hemer jumped up in the air "Yeeees! Ha ha." He cheered as he hi fived Reilliek who was also cheering.

"H-how…" Flak started. "I saw movement in the reflection of your eye." He looked back at Reilliek. "Told you I'm a good shot." Reilliek raised his hands in the air in surrender. "I was wrong." "Lets go get that kill!" Him and Reilliek pushed past the bush and over to the Kelbi. _Damn_, was all Flak could think.

**Back at camp**

"They'll heal in a couple of days." Doctor Griffin said as he examined the many scrape marks on Flak's upper body. "Those bushes are pretty bad." "Yeah" Flak agreed.

Griffin turned around in his chair to write something down on a piece of paper. "Umm. Doctor Griffin, yesterday Ali came in here and-." "Is that any of your business?" "N-no I guess not." Flak responded quickly.

Griffin nodded and stood up. "You're good to go Flak." "Thanks." "You sure are welcome." He couldn't even take a step until he heard screams coming from the clearing. Flak whipped his head around at Griffin who moved quickly to see what was going on, but Flak got to the door before him. He ran down a hallway and opened the door to the clearing but halted in his tracks at what he saw standing in the middle of the clearing.

Every villager was scrambling head over heels to get to their cot.

Flak looked at the cobra like head, the arched neck, the large webbed feet, long body and bladelike tail. He stood in awe and fear as he looked at a Lagiacrus standing only six meters away eying each person that ran bye. Shel, Gurtigo and Wham already had their weapons out and were circling the beast. Then on the opposite side of the camp Trojin came out of his cot with his switch axe ready in sword mode right before Kkalas jumped down with her sword.

Flak reached for his sword and shield and held them ready. "Attack!" Kkalas yelled. Wham raised his bow gun, but before any of the charging hunters or Wham could do their damage Flak heard Griffin yell from behind him "Stop!" It was too late Uopia slashed with her sword but the Lagiacrus didn't even flinch. Everyone paused in confusion at who's order to take and why the Lagiacrus wasn't attacking. Uopia took a few steps back as she held her shield up. The beasts head looked in Griffins direction. Just then did Flak notice the trampled camp wall. _Smooth entrance._

Griffin walked out from behind Flak slowly with his hands raised at his waist. "Remember me?" Griffin asked the Lagiacrus as he slowly approached and as everyone in the camp watched in utter awe. _Well in the exception of Giranamo probably._ Flak thought. Then Flak's mind flashed to the time Griffin had told flak that Lagiacrus story about how the beast got its head stuck on it's back crystals. He looked up at the monsters head to see no horns. _This is the same Lagiacrus Griffin fought all those years ago! _

Griffin was only two meters away form it's head when it whipped around and growled straight at his face. Everyone tensed and held up their weapons. Griffin kept his hands up. "It's me. Were friends now. Right? The head was now only one meter away. Griffin raised his left hand slowly towards it's snout. _Is he mad!? _Was all Flak and probably everyone else in the camp was thinking. Griffins hand was only five inches away. He paused for a moment and put his hand on the snout. The beast flinched back and raised his head in air away from Griffin.

A Lagiacrus. The lord of the sea, the most famed and most notorious monster flinched at the hands of a mere human. Flak's jaw was open. Griffin moved forward and started stroking its chest. He then turned around. "See. He's ok. I've tamed him. He won't hurt anybody." No one moved until Kkalas put sheathed her weapon. "Yes. He spoke the truth." She announced to the whole clan. "He's tamed it. "But Kkalas-." Trojin started but she held her hand up. "I've read about this. If someone in the past defeated a Lagiacrus, it may come back in the future, to the human who maimed it to offer that person it's eternal service." She paused. "It's safe. They are the smarted monster of all after all."

All of the hunters reluctantly put their weapons away including Flak. But most stayed and watched as Griffin got comfortable with the Lagiacrus and got the Lagiacrus comfortable with him. _I guess Griffin knew that._ Flak guessed as he walked as far away as he could from the giant lizard to get to his cot. Some hunters were braver and got closer for a better look and to ask Griffin some questions.

When Flak reached his cot, Ali was outside and had just put down her lance and stood up. She looked at Flak then back at the monster. "Lets go inside and check on Giranamo." Ali suggested. "Yes. Good idea." Flak said just so he could get away from the new clan pet.

The two young hunters entered to her a squeaky voice come from under Flaks bed. "I-i-is it-t gone?" "No not really." Flak responded. Giranamo didn't say anything back. Ali and Flak both laughed lightly. Flak sat down on his bed and started to take off armor. He had been in it for almost seven hours straight.

"Well that was unexpected." Ali commented. "Yeah. Very" "And uh, just incase it goes on murderous rampage…" she bent down and kissed Flak on the lips. She stood back up, smiled and walked out of his cot.

Stunned Flak got butterflies in his belly as his lips tingled from his first kiss…

**WOW! That happened. Well I told you guys you would like it. And in the reviews tell me who your favorite and least favorite characters are and why. I would love to see what you guys have to say. Peace! :-D**


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